Venturi battles storms and salt to set electric land speed record

The Venturi and The Ohio State University team on the salt at Bonneville, August 2015. Venturi Automobiles

Venturi, a Monegasque electric vehicle (EV) company, and The Ohio State University have just set a new FIA land speed record for EVs on the salt flats of Bonneville, Utah. Driven by Roger Schroer, the Venturi VBB-3 covered a measured mile at an average speed of 240.32mph (386.758km/h). However, the record was achieved in spite of the terrible condition of the salt flats, which have been badly affected by storms in recent weeks.

Venturi had to settle for a lesser record attempt than originally planned. The VBB-3 has been designed to break 400mph (643.7km/h), but the rain-soaked salt flats were not amenable to this plan. It proved impossible to prepare a 12-mile (19.3km) track on the salt for the record attempt; instead the team had to settle for a partially wet and very bumpy 10 miles (16km) instead. "In eleven years here I have never driven on such a difficult track," said Schroer. "The car was sliding on the surface from one side to the other due to soft spots and bumps."

Heavy rainfall in July inundated the salt flats, leading the organizers of Bonneville SpeedWeek to cancel the annual race meeting for the third year in a row. When given sufficient time to dry, the salt can be groomed to prepare a smooth track for flat-out running, but add water and the result is a bumpy, slushy mess that can wreak havoc on the cars. Ars has been following Venturi's record attempt via Twitter, and the team had reported that the broken surface was causing problems:

#3 The wet and very bumpy track is like a shaker and disrupts some electronic systems. #Venturi #VBB3 #EWSR #FIA pic.twitter.com/GZfyTSSqHw

— @Venturi Automobiles (@venturi) August 19, 2015

# we have only 12cm between the car &the ground the wet &heavy salt &mud are slowing the #VBB3. #EWSR #FIA #Venturi pic.twitter.com/dtRQwkXzAc

— @Venturi Automobiles (@venturi) August 19, 2015

VBB-3's record run was the car's single attempt. On the return leg (the car has to be timed going both ways and the speed is averaged) that bumpy surface resulted in a hole being punched in the front cooling tank.

Venturi Automobiles

A wounded VBB-3 rests on the salt following the speed run.

Venturi Automobiles

A wounded VBB-3 rests on the salt following the speed run.

Venturi Automobiles

VBB-3 at speed.

Venturi Automobiles

Venturi owner Gildo Pastor and VBB-3 driver Roger Schroer.

Venturi Automobiles

Venturi Automobiles

Vibration damage to the car.

We expect future land speed attempts from Venturi and The Ohio State University with VBB-3. Presumably those will have to wait until next year, unless another suitable location can be found. Finding the right stretch of desert for a land speed run is part of the challenge, as we saw with the UK-based Bloodhound SSC attempt. Sadly for speed junkies, the Black Rock Desert in Nevada—where Thrust SSC broke the sound barrier—has been ruined for speed-testing by the Burning Man festival.

We also hope to visit VBB-3 later this year at its Ohio base to see what 3,000hp (2,237kW) looks like up close. And in the interest of full disclosure, we should mention that Venturi's Formula E cars contested the final rounds of the championship with Ars logos on them, courtesy of our colleagues in the UK.

Source: Venturi battles storms and salt to set electric land speed record